Usefulness of ultrasound in cerebral-cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Introduction: clinical ultrasonography has undergone a significant development in recent years. Its use has spread to most medical specialties and has ceased to be a complementary examination and has been integrated into the clinical approach. Objective: to describe the usefulness of ultrasonography in cerebral- cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Method: a search for information was carried out in the databases PubMed/Medline, Scopus and SciELO, using a combination of terms. Twenty-nine references were chosen. Development: during cerebral-cardiopulmonary arrest, ultrasonography allows differentiation of cardiac rhythm, finding reversible causes of arrest, performing ultrasound-guided procedures during resuscitation, displaying real-time physiological data reflecting dynamic changes in response to medical treatments, and providing prognostic information. The identification of causes impacts on the management and prognosis, and is also applicable to the evaluation of the quality of chest compressions. There are different protocols, each with its own features. Ultrasound has a positive influence on the return of spontaneous circulation, survival to admission and survival to hospital discharge. Conclusions: the use of ultrasound during cerebral cardiopulmonary resuscitation is based on the diagnosis of these acute cardiorespiratory events, the identification of reversible causes, evaluation of the technique, selection of therapy, guiding cardiorespiratory resuscitation, avoiding a new event and assessing the functional status after resuscitation. The mastery of clinical echocardiography by all health care providers in the event of cardiopulmonary arrest is a necessity.